The Devil's Trill
by Cebren
Summary: Lovino is jealous of his violin virtuoso brother, and when he's offered the chance to be better than him by mastering a certain piece of music, he gladly takes it. But why do these horrible things keep happening around him?
1. Chapter one: Stranger

The stage was practically covered in roses. The audience was giving a standing ovation, their eyes filled with pure appreciation for the music they had just heard. Lovino bowed and bit his lip as he glanced at Feliciano standing next to him. The younger boy's face was sparkling with bliss, if there ever was anything besides that on it in any case; holding a rose he waved his hand at the audience, the other hand gripping his violin in a rather careless manner in Lovi's opinion. Lovino descended from the stage to the safety of the backstage, followed by his younger brother who was still sparkling like a certain movie character, letting out noises of happiness Lovino had grown used to.

"Good job, Feli", Lovino said, trying not to sound too annoyed. "That was beautiful."

"Ve~ Grazie, fratello! You were really good too!" the younger brother beamed, his eyes closed as usual.

"I wonder…" Lovino muttered, and turned around to walk to his dressing room. Feliciano's eyebrows curved in a way that made it clear he was upset about his brother's behaviour, but he had no time to think about it any further as he heard familiar steps behind him, and soon felt his boyfriend's strong hand resting on his shoulder. The worry for Lovino was replaced with happiness as the little Italian cuddled against his boyfriend, listening the most jubilantly as Ludwig praised his playing in his own, rather austere manner.

Lovino made his way to the door of his dressing room just to find out his way was blocked by a handsome blonde man holding out a rose.

"Magnificent, mon cher", Francis said and smiled, but got rewarded with but a glare.

"Piss off, Francis", Lovino gave his most gracious advice and tried to get through the door despite the taller man being on his way. Francis pursed his lips and tapped his cheek with the rose's blossom.

"Rude as always, I see", he said, making no effort whatsoever to move aside. "And I came all the way here just to congratulate you!"

Lovino shot a sullen look at Francis, his hand on the doorknob.

"Why don't you just go to find Feli, I bet he's the one you wanted to see anyway", he spit out, pulling the doorknob with no visible effect as the strength in his fragile arms wasn't enough to move the taller man. Francis shrugged, seemingly annoyed now was well.

"Maybe I will", he said, finally standing up straight from his leaning position against the door, and took a few steps away from Lovino. "Here's your rose, I came here just to deliver it so you'd better take good care of it." With that, he tossed the rose over his shoulder and walked away.

Lovino glared at the rose as if it had just cracked up a joke about his deceased mother, but finally bent down to pick it up and entered his dressing room. He closed the door behind him and threw the flower on the desk before the mirror, sinking to the wooden chair and heaving out a sigh. After that he continued the staring competition with the rose, his eyes mere slits. What did Francis think he'd accomplish by giving him a rose? The man was probably just trying to suck up to him so that he wouldn't kill him if he finally managed to bag his brother. Which wasn't very likely to happen, though, considering Feliciano was happily dating Ludwig. Or if not that, the flower was just given out of pity. Francis must know Feliciano was the one to receive all the glory of the concert they had just held together. And who could blame anyone for that? Feliciano was talented – no, more than that, he was a virtuoso. A natural talent, a genius. A mere look at a music sheet was usually enough for him to play the song with utmost skill. Feliciano was everything Lovino was not. Not only talented, but famous, rich, well-liked by everyone thanks his cute behaviour, and had a loving boyfriend supporting him. Lovino, in contrast, was potty-mouthed, always grumpy, left in his brother's shadow both in music and in social standing, and all the people around him seemed to be there only because of Feli.

The Italian was suddenly brought back to the reality in front of him by a knock on the door. After he grunted a permission to come in, Feliciano's head popped up from the chink of the door.

"Fratello! We're going to have a party at Francis' house, do you want to come with us?"

Lovino smiled tiredly and shook his head. "No thank you, Feli. I want to stay and practise a bit."

Feliciano looked a bit concerned and pouted. "Are you sure, fratello?"

"Si. Now get the hell out of here so that I can practise."

The younger brother seemed happy with this reply, and left after bidding Lovino good night and happy practising.

Lovino sighed again and stretched his fingers. Yes, he'd better practise. After all, he knew the only way he could ever get some recognition was to get skilful enough to rise from Feliciano's shadow. He took his violin and stood up, running the bow through the strings once before starting to play an old song he knew by heart, one that was passionate enough to suit his mood yet beautiful. He closed his eyes, letting the music lead him, feeling more alive than he did while at the stage. Here there was no one to judge him, no one to compare his playing to Feliciano's… As he was getting close to the finale he opened his eyes to deliver it with the intensity it deserved, but almost dropped his violin in shock as he saw a strange man standing at his door. The man had a smile on his round face that was partly hidden behind a long scarf, and was slowly clapping his hands. For some reason it seemed to Lovino that the man wasn't a part of the audience; he was dressed in a smart dark suit, yes, but Lovino wasn't quite sure what it was in him that seemed odd, if not the scarf.

"Splendid, comrade", the blonde man said with a thick accent, keeping the big smile on his face. "You're talented."

"Thank you", Lovino replied hesitantly, noting that there was no way out of the room should the stranger turn out to be dangerous, and no one would probably hear him scream in the empty building. The thought made the boy shiver, but he tried to look brave despite that.

"It must be difficult for you to be the virtuoso Feliciano Vargas' brother, though", the stranger suddenly continued and opened his eyes for the first time during the conversation, looking straight at Lovino. The stare made the boy shudder again.

"What do you know about that?" he said with a tone laced with irritation, biting his lip right after the words had slipped out of his mouth. It wasn't wise to pick fights with strangers bigger than him in a place where no one could save him, should the stranger decide to do something to him. Not that he'd be afraid.

The stranger's smile didn't falter as he continued to talk. "I know a lot of things, comrade. Like for example… the way to make you more talented than your brother."

Lovino blinked, not sure how to react to the blonde man's words. "Make me more talented? Don't fuck with me! It isn't as easy as that! There is nothing like… music steroids that could suddenly make me play the violin better than Feliciano!" he let out, irritated of just the idea of the stranger thinking music was something as simple as that. No, mastering the violin took years, a lifetime in fact, and Lovino knew he wasn't anywhere near perfect yet. In truth, however, should his playing be evaluated as it is he would definitely be considered extremely talented. However, as things were he was always compared to his younger brother, and deemed not as gifted as him.

"I was not suggesting anything like that, comrade. Talent takes hard work. That is why I believe you will be able to go far. But not without the help of this." The stranger placed a small pile of papers on the desk, and then looked at Lovino again. "Go ahead, pick it up. It's not anything dangerous."

Lovino eyed the paper suspiciously before picking the first paper up with the tips of his fingers and bringing it closer to see what it was. As soon as he realized that it was in fact a piece of sheet music, he took a firmer hold of it with both his hands and studied it through with utmost interest, before taking the rest and leafing through them as well. From the first glance he could see it was a very difficult piece, but the more carefully he read the notes the clearer it became that it was an extremely beautiful song.

"The Devil's Trill", the stranger said, and the smile on his face turned into something similar to a small grin. "A highly demanding piece. But you have the technical skills, so does your brother. However, you have something he doesn't – the passion. The emotion, the fury needed to play this song to its full capacity. Go ahead, give it a go. If you master this song, I can assure you you'll be regarded as an equal to Feliciano – no, superior, I should say." the blonde man opened the door and turned away from Lovino. "Well, I guess I should be off now. Da svidanija."

"Wait!" Lovino shouted after him, and managed to make him stop. The small Italian glared the man for a moment before talking. "What do I owe you for this?"

"Oh, nothing", the stranger smiled. "It's enough for me if I get to hear you play it once you have mastered it."

And with that, the man was gone, and Lovino was left alone in the dressing room with the pile of papers. He eyed the papers again before taking the first one with the name of the song written on it with big, curly letters, set it on a note stand, and with the calmness of a professional began to play the first part of the song.


	2. Chapter two: Pillow

Lovino rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned. The room was dim thanks to the curtains covering the windows, but there was an odd bright light blinking somewhere. Slowly Lovino started feeling more awake and recognized the source of the glow. He reached for his cell phone, the screen of which was flashing a message "8 unanswered calls". Lovino blinked, wondering who would call him at that hour, and that many times? And why hadn't he heard the calls? The last problem was quickly solved as Lovino remembered he hadn't switched the sounds on after the concert last night, and he was heavy enough of a sleeper not to wake up from petty flashing lights and the vibrating sounds. In order not to forget again, he switched the sounds on, and checked the caller ID. The number on the screen was one he had never seen before, and he decided to ignore the calls for now. It probably was just a prank call, anyway. He got up from his bed, stretched, slipped on the bunny-shaped slippers he had gotten as a gift from Feliciano, and plodded to the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

After having downed half of his routinely morning dose of caffeine he felt a bit more awake, and went to Feliciano's room to wake up his always as sleep-loving brother. However, it seemed like Feli was already gone. He was probably out on a date with his boyfriend, Lovino guessed. The German had probably pulled the half-asleep Italian out of his bed at some completely inhumane hour, as he tended to, and was probably currently suffering the consequences in the form of the sleep-deprived boy's behaviour. Lovi sighed and decided to call Feli and ask if he was coming home for dinner- no, screw that, he just wouldn't make any dinner for Feli. That should teach him to inform his brother if he was going out. As Lovino was on his way back to the kitchen to make some breakfast, he heard the familiar tune of his ringtone. Lazily he went to get his phone and answered the call, fully prepared to curse the pranker to the lowest depth of hell.

If only it had been a prank call.

"Yes… yes. I'll be there right away." Lovino pressed the red button on his phone and gulped. How could this have happened? He ran to his room, out on the t-shirt and jeans he could find the quickest, and rushed out of the door almost forgetting to pick up his keys. Luckily he was able to catch a taxi in a matter of minutes, and it didn't take long until was rushing inside a hospital, heading for the info desk.

"Romulus Vargas", he panted to the black-haired nurse – wait, was that a male nurse? – who looked up from his papers as he heard Lovi's voice. "Where is Romulus Vargas? I'm his grandson."

"Let me see… Mr. Vargas, room 307. It's in the third floor, aru."

Lovino had no time to thank the nurse of his help as he hurried up the stairs – taking the elevator would have taken too much time – and finally pushed open the door of the ward number 307.

"Lovino!" he was greeted with a cheerful sounding voice. "How nice of you to come! Grandpa was getting lonely! But where is my little Feli?"

Lovino stared at the brown-haired man who laid in a hospital bed with as an idiotic smile on his face as only a Vargas or a Carriedo could pull off on his face.

"I…. I…. I-I-I thought you were going to die!" he gasped, his surprise and relief hidden under anger as always. "They said you had a heart attack! What the fuck are you smiling there for?"

Romulus laughed and waved his hand up and down.

"Yes, I did have a heart attack, but your Grampy isn't weak enough to die from that!" he announced. Lovino sat on a chair next to Romulus' bed, finally able to catch his breath.

"I'll have to rest for a couple of weeks at the hospital, though", the old man continued with a whining tone, lamenting his luck for having to stay in one room all day, but commenting on the cute nurses right after.

"Serves you right", Lovino puffed, still trying to hide his obvious relief with anger. Then he was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Does that mean you won't be able to make it to the concert?"

"Unfortunately", Romulus sighed. "I know that concert is a big deal for you guys." he shook his head, apparently very displeased of his current situation, before he suddenly smiled again. "Hey, I know! Why don't you get Feliciano and play me your set here at the hospital?"

"Fine", Lovino grumbled and stood up. "I'm going back now. Do you need me to bring something to you the next time I visit?"

"Magazines! With lots of pictures and not much text!" the old man requested with a grin. "And my iPod, it's too quiet in here. And the most important thing, don't forget to bring my little Feli!"

Lovino grumbled his reply, and said goodbye to his grandfather before heading back home.

Feliciano. It was always all about Feliciano. Lovino pushed his hands deeper into his pockets as he walked on the busy main street of the city, figuring he'd rather have a walk than spend a ridiculous amount of money on a taxi ride again. It was obvious enough Romulus would have been much happier had it been Feliciano visiting him instead of Lovino. It had always been that way. Feli was their grandpa's pet, and had been their parents' pet as well when they were still alive. These days the younger brother didn't even remember their faces, but Lovino did. And he remembered how they had adored Feli.

The walk home was a bit long, and by the time Lovino got to his door and dig the keys from his pocket, he was exhausted. To his surprise, once he opened the door he was welcomed with a loud humming sound. Curiously he made his way to the living room, where he found Ludwig with a hoover in his hand, staring at the corner of the room as if he was expecting an army of dust bunnies trying to ambush him.

Lovino's usual greeting to Ludwig was an insult and a whole bunch of swear words, but this time he was at a loss of what to say.

"…what are you doing?" he finally asked, drawing Ludwig's attention to him for the first time after he had stepped in. Ludwig startled, having obviously had no idea of Lovi's presence, and turned the hoover off to be able to talk more comfortably.

"I'm… uh… your house was messy", he explained, looking slightly embarrassed. Lovino snickered and crossed his arms. Of course, the neat-freak German couldn't take looking at a house that, due to the Italians' laziness, wasn't cleaned quite as often as Lud would have it.

"At least there's one good thing in Feli dating you… we get a free maid", he said, smirking although honestly he still wasn't very happy about the two dating.

Before he had the time to go on teasing Ludwig, Feliciano stepped in from the kitchen, carrying a tray full of snacks and drinks that Ludwig quickly relieved from his hands in fear of his boyfriend dropping it down and messing up the now sparkling clean floor.

"Fratello! You're home!" he said happily. "Me and Ludwig are going to watch 'You've got mail'! Do you want to watch it with us?"

Lovino considered telling Feli about Romulus, but decided he could just as well tell him after the movie. There was no reason to spoil their fun, after all.

"That movie sucks ass. Besides, I'm tired", he said and threw himself on the couch, snuggling under a shawl. "I'm going to take a nap."

"A nap at this hour – ", Ludwig started, but fortunately Feliciano's interference made him quiet down.

"Alright, we'll watch it in my room then! Have a good siesta, Fratello!"

Lovino polled the shawl further up until it was covering him up to his nose, and watched Ludwig and Feliciano walk away. His eyes wandered involuntarily to Ludwig's backside, until he closed his them tightly and cursed himself for eyeing his brother's boyfriend. Keeping his eyes closed felt wonderful at the moment, though. He felt as sluggish as his friend Antonio did at siesta time, and let himself drift into sleep.

What woke him up again was the annoying sound of a phone ringing. Eyes still crossed, he fumbled around to find his phone, and was finally able to answer the call. His irritated tone from being up suddenly turned flat and scared the longer he listened to the voice of the caller. He stood up from the couch, as pale as a sheet, and went to knock on Feliciano's door.

"I'm very sorry of your loss." the curly-haired doctor with a bad posture lowered his head. Lovino blinked, still unable to believe what he had just heard.

"But… that's not possible!" he yelled, standing up from his chair. "I was there just a moment ago! He was still all right back then!"

"We're still trying to find out the cause of the death", the doctor said, but Lovino didn't listen.

"How could this be…"

Feliciano was crying against Ludwig's chest, howling every now and then how he missed his grandpa and how he had wanted to say goodbye at least. Lovino couldn't take it anymore, and ran out of the room to calm himself down in the hall. He strolled to and fro, blinking violently to keep tears from falling. How could this have happened? Sure, Romulus was old, but… he hadn't looked like he was going to die, at all…

In the midst of his strolling around he suddenly felt a violent thump as he ran into someone coming from across the corner.

"Hey! Watch it, shorty!" the man he had run into, apparently a police judging by his clothes, let out. Then the man took a better look at Lovi and suddenly grinned. "If it isn't the tomato-er of the Italian brothers! What are you doing in here?"

Lovino looked up and recognized the annoying grin.

"First of all, it was your fault, Gilbert. Second, my grandfather just died, so leave me the hell alone or I'll fucking kill you."

Gilberts face got a very rare sympathetic look on it.

"I'm sorry, angry little Italian", he said and patted Lovi's shoulder. "I had no idea it was old man Romulus who died. What a shame, he was a great guy."

Lovino sniffled, doing his best not to cry. Crying in front of anyone was a bad thing already, but if he cried in front of Gilbert, the man wouldn't let him live it down, he was sure of it.

"So what are you doing here then?" he asked, trying to change the subject. Gilbert withdrew his hand and crossed his arms.

"They called the precinct to check on the case. The old man died for a suspicious reason, it might not have been natural. So they sent the most awesome cop in the whole country to solve the case and save the day, so here I am~!" forgetting the last of his social etiquette he cackled in his usual way. Lovino, his attention fully on the man's words, didn't even notice the laugh though.

"Suspicious reason? What do you mean?"

Gilbert blinked, and then shook his shoulders.

"What, they didn't tell you? Old man Romulus died of the lack of oxygen. I heard there are no signs of strangling or anything on his body, but it's still possible someone suffocated him on purpose. ….but I guess I shouldn't have told you that." Gilbert looked uncomfortable and laid a hand hesitantly on Lovino's shoulder again as the younger man was too shocked to utter a word. Gilbert knew he wasn't good at situations like this, so he patted Lovino's shoulder as reassuringly as he could.

"Come on, shrimp. Don't think too much about it. Just leave this to us police. Is Feli here too? Let's go to see how he's doing."

Still biting his lip, Lovino nodded weakly and let Gilbert walk him back to the room where Feli was still wailing over their loss.

[-]

The house was quiet, but Lovino could hear quiet whispers coming from Feliciano's room. Ludwig had decided to stay over for the night to support his boyfriend, and suddenly Lovino felt terribly alone. He didn't want to think about Romulus' death anymore. He had spent a long time crying on his bed, but now he felt simply empty, and didn't have the peace of mind to be able to sleep. Escaping reality by whatever means seemed the best course of action at the moment, and Lovino headed down to the cellar with his violin, a pile of papers in his hand. The first notes of the Devil's Trill seemed so easy to play now, and as he concentrated on the new lines on the sheet he was able to forget the day's miserable events for a moment.


	3. Chapter three: Rope

Lovino flipped the page of the album and pointed to the second picture on the new page. "Remember this? This was… last summer, right?" He tapped the photo of an old man grinning happily, splashing water on his grandchild who was laughing with just as jolly a look on his face. The ocean was glistening under the warm rays of the sun, the sky was light blue without a single cloud anywhere to be seen, and the two men in the photograph were both slightly tanned thanks to having spent the whole day under the bright summer sun.

Feliciano sniffled and nodded.

"Si… that's from when Nonno took us to the beach", he said and laid his finger gingerly on the photo, right on Romulus' cheek. "We had so much fun there…"

Lovino turned the page again, seeing yet more photos taken on the same day, each of them featuring either happy looking Feliciano and Romulus or himself looking as grumpy as ever. He remembered how his face had gotten sunburnt and how, when they had gotten back, Antonio had called him "my tomato" again. Despite that, he had to agree it had been fun, even though he hadn't seen it in quite that way back then.

Photo albums were scattered all over the brothers who sat on the living room carpet, some of the albums still open on random pages. A photo of two little boys in black tuxedos that made them look like miniature penguins and violins on their hands, one smiling and the other blushing as the old man in between them held a hand on each of their shoulders and grinned. A photo of a child resting on his grandfather's arms, the older man smiling gently as he looked at him. A photo of a boy in an Italian restaurant, sporting an annoyed expression as he tried to stop his grandfather from feeding him a slice of pizza. And then again, two young men in smart black outfits, alongside an older man with almost as smart a suit. Suddenly Lovino noticed a photo that caught his interest, and reached to take the album it was in to his hands.

"When was this taken?" he asked, showing his younger brother a photo of Romulus and a blonde girl with a black ribbon hair band, both making the weirdest faces right in front of the camera. Feliciano looked at the photo and smiled a bit.

"Oh! I think that's from Nonno's birthday! Was it… two or three years ago?" he received the album from Lovino and looked more carefully at his grandfather's silly face. "Bella and Nonno were fooling about the whole day… and the cake Francis made for Nonno was delicious!"

Lovino nodded and let out a small sound of consent even though he wasn't really listening, and browsed lazily another album that was laying close by. Now that he thought of it, there were a plenty of other photos with Bella in them. It wasn't really a surprise, though, they had been friends since childhood, after all. And Bella had always gotten along great with Romulus, too. Lovino tried to remember when he had last seen the girl. It had been a while, probably when she had had that concert of hers a couple of weeks ago. Lovino didn't really like seeing her these days. Bella and Feliciano still got along great, but Lovino thought that as Bella had become more talented with the violin, talented enough to rival Feli in fact, she had gotten a bit stuck up. Feliciano said he hadn't noticed that, but Lovino was sure she had. And besides… there had always been some things in Bella that he had never learnt to like.

Bella was a sweet girl, everyone said that. She had been talented in music ever since a child, much like Feliciano. Lovino was the one out of the three of them who had to work for his skills, when the other two were just playing around. Lovino had to admit, though, that back then he had had a crush on the cute Belgium girl; but once time went by, he found himself slightly jealous of Bella's attractiveness. Not that it was the girl's fault, of course, Lovi knew that, but what actually was her fault was that she seemed to treat Lovino like air thanks to her being more talented than him.

"Fratello? Fratello?"

Lovino blinked and looked at his brother, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"What is it, Feli?" he asked, masking his embarrassment for zoning out like that with an irritated tone. Feliciano gave a tiny bittersweet smile.

"We should probably tell Bella about Nonno", he said quietly. "They were good friends. She needs to know he's gone now…" Feli gulped, and blinked more often than what is natural. Lovino noticed his brother was about to cry again, so he thought it was better to distract him with something to make him feel better.

"Yeah… We'd better go over to her place today. And when we get back, let's go get some gelato."

Feliciano's face brightened like a little child's upon hearing he was going to get something good, and he nodded.

"Um! Let's put these albums away and go right away!"

Lovino sighed, feeling a slightly too lethargic to do that, but he figured he'd have to do that sooner or later in any case, why not just get it over with. With that, he started helping Feli pile up the photo albums and stuff them back to the bookshelf.

"We haven't visited Bella in a while, have we?" Feliciano asked as they walked down the quiet street. Lovino heard a bird somewhere nearby sing beautifully, but the song ended abruptly, and he turned his gaze to see if the bird had flown away. Instead of a flying bird he saw a cat on the ground, its white face dirtied with blood and a couple of feathers sticking from his mouth, enjoying his kill. Lovino shuddered and turned his eyes back to Feli.

"Yeah, it's been a while", he said quickly, and to make sure Feli wouldn't have to see the poor little bird getting eaten, he pointed at a group of cats on the other side of the street. "Look, Feli! Kitties." He didn't feel the slightest remorse for treating his brother like a mere child as the boy looked at the cats with sparkling eyes.

"I wonder why there are so many cats in here!" the younger boy wondered aloud while looking at the animals, but Lovino decided it was perhaps better not to answer that question.

Bella's house looked as well taken care of as always. Or perhaps saying "always" wasn't quite correct; the yard would probably be this clean only when his brother Lars wasn't around, and Lovino had heard the older man had gone for a trip of some sort for a couple of weeks.

Feliciano knocked on the door, but even after a long wait no one came to open the door.

"I wonder if she's out?" Feliciano pondered aloud, but Lovino just snorted.

"She probably just didn't hear your knock. Let me do it." he pushed Feli aside and knocked on the door. "Bella? Are you in there?" he laid his hand on the door handle, and to his surprise the door opened. "It wasn't locked…" he said, surprised, and pushed the door open properly. The brothers stepped in, both calling for Bella.

"Bella? Are you home? You left the door unlocked…"

They walked through the kitchen, noticing the girl had to be somewhere close by as she had left a carton of milk on the table. They proceeded to walk to the living room, but as soon as they stepped in they both froze as if time had suddenly stopped.

Feliciano let out a squeak and hid his face against Lovino's shoulder. Lovino find himself unable to look away. In his hazed mind, he thought this had to be what people experienced when they saw a train wreck; it was horrible, and you knew you weren't supposed to look, you knew it would just hurt yourself if you kept on looking, but you just couldn't bring yourself to look away.

The girl hanging from a rope on the ceiling was barely identifiable as Bella, and about the only things that made it clear it was actually her was her blonde hair, the hairband on it, and the fact that it was indeed her house. Her face was in an almost unrecognizable: it was half hidden with dried blood from long, thin scratches that continued down to her bare arms. The arms, to Lovino's shock, ended to wrists; down on the floor under Bella laid a pair of hands in a large puddle of blood. Lovino shuddered violently, and started to slowly back towards the kitchen.

"We need to call Ludwig", he whispered with a trembling voice, feeling tears of fear and shock on the corners of his eyes.

[-]

Ludwig put a shawl on Lovino's shoulders and hugged Feliciano.

"I know it's a shock to the both of you. We'll be sure to find out her killer, don't worry", he said and ruffled Feliciano's hair. "Try not to think about it too much."

Lovino bit his lip. How could Ludwig even think he could just forget about something like that? He could still see her, hanging from the rope, blood all over her. Lovino shuddered and shot up from the couch.

"Where are you going?" Feliciano asked, his voice sounding weak.

"I need some time alone", Lovino muttered and walked down to the cellar. He ran his fingers on the cool wooden texture of his violin and started to feel a bit better. But it was only after he drew the calming notes of the first part of the Devil's Trill that he started to feel like he might forget about the incident for a moment.


	4. Chapter four: Wheels

Lovino lay on his bed on his stomach, covering himself with his blanket up to his ears. The curtains were shut tightly, and the room was quiet and dark with the exception of the flashing lights coming from the boy's cell phone. Lovino couldn't bother to reach his hand and press the red button of his Nokia phone. Francis had been bugging him with his calls the whole morning, but Lovino hadn't picked up. Francis was the last person he wanted to talk to right now. He didn't want the man to see him in this state.

Despite him ignoring the calls with all his might, Francis seemed awfully persistent. Around the 25th call Lovino let out a groan and finally grabbed his phone.

"What the hell do you want?" he growled to the phone, but instead of the silky French accent he heard another familiar voice.

"Amigo! Are you alright? I tried calling Feli but he wouldn't pick up!"

Lovino bit his lip. Antonio, huh. "How the fuck do you think we could be alright? Nonno and Bella are dead!"

The Spaniard seemed to hesitate a bit before talking again.

"S-si… That is true… Hey! I'm coming over to your house to make you two feel better!"

"Don't", Lovino groaned, but Antonio didn't seem to listen.

"I'm already on my way! I'll be there in a moment, don't worry!"

Lovino put his phone back on the nightstand and sighed. That Spanish idiot… Sure, he liked Antonio as a friend, but he was rather annoying most of the time. And besides, he was just like everyone else. He liked Feli.

Reluctantly Lovino got up from his bed and walked to his closet. There was no way that even after these events (both of which he still couldn't really admit to himself that had happened) there was no way he was going to let Toni see him stark naked the way he always slept. Lazily he put on some clothes without really caring what he was wearing, as long as they could cover him up much enough to avoid Antonio staring at him with lust written all over his face. Lovino knew that the Spaniard was just imagining his brother in Lovino's place just like everyone else, which made him hate the stare.

As he had gotten some clothes on he walked to the living room and sat on the couch to wait for Antonio's unwanted but soon-to-happen arrival. He already had an idea of what Toni was going to say in his attempt of cheering him and Feli up. Chances were he was going to try to distract them with talk about the big concert at the end of the month. It was going to be a huge event, lots of important people were going to be there, and the Vargas brothers were going to play their most extravagant set. Antonio, as the owner of the concert hall, had been planning the concert for months. Lovino wondered lazily whether he should tell Antonio he was going to play the Devil's Trill if he managed to perfect it before that, and closed his eyes as he waited for the Spaniard's arrival.

A loud sound of a car horn woke Lovino up. He glanced at the cuckoo clock on the wall and noticed he had been sleeping for ten minutes, but as he looked around he saw no sign of Toni anywhere. Lovino pushed Antonio's number on his cell phone, wondering why the man was taking this long. He loved close to the Vargas', after all, it shouldn't take him more than about five minutes or so to get there. The only one to answer to Lovino's call was the answering machine, and Lovino started to feel a bit worried. He reminded himself that Antonio had most likely just forgotten to bring his cell phone with him as he left his house, and had ended up staring at some store's display window on his way and lost the track of time. After all, there was no way something had happened to him too… right?

Slowly Lovino realized that the sound he had been hearing ever since he woke up wasn't coming from the television, but from the street outside his window. Slowly he walked to the window, hoping he'd see nothing out of ordinary, and looked down. Contrary to what he wished to see, it seemed like there had been a horrible car accident; lots of cars were crashed together, among them a huge, heavy-looking truck. Lovino's face paled, and he hurried to the door, rushing out to the scene of the accident as soon as he could. A crowd of people had gathered to see what had happened, some of them were crying and screaming, and Lovino had to use his elbows to get past them. As soon as he got close enough to see the scene himself, his eyes widened in shock. On the ground, half under a wrecked car, there was a blood-soiled corpse of a man, even though it was difficult to tell now that it had actually been a full body once. Now it was just a pile of mashed guts mixed with blood and unidentifiable parts of body. It was almost unbelievable a body could get in this shape in a mere traffic accident, but apparently the heavy truck now stopped a few metres from it had run over it. At this point, Lovino happened to see the head of the corpse. Heavily mutilated like the rest of the body, not much left to be recognized, his head lay there. He was still smiling.

[-]

Lovino's fingers were grasping the soft fabric of Francis' shirt, as his sobs slowly stifled. Francis caressed his back softly, sighing, his eyes red from crying as well.

"You need some sleep, Lovino", the Frenchman finally whispered. Lovino shook his head.

"I can't sleep", he muttered tiredly. Francis gave a gentle reassuring squeeze on his arm.

"I'll be there to protect you, d'accord? So you can sleep safely. Is there anything I could do to make you relax and get some sleep?"

Lovino shook his head, letting himself be comforted by Francis' steady heartbeat for another moment.

"I… Playing the violin always calms me down…" he said then quietly, knowing it had to sound insane to Francis. Thinking about the violin as three people close to him had died? Surely, that wasn't very sane. To his surprise, Francis nodded.

"If that will make you forget about it for a moment… Is it alright if I listen?"

Lovino nodded, and went to get his violin. Somewhy, even though he knew countless other songs, he knew he could only be calmed down by the notes of the Devil's Trill, even though he had yet to learn the song as a whole. Nevertheless, as soon as he started playing he felt a lot calmer, and afterwards as they were going to sleep (Francis to the guest room next to Lovino's room), Francis told him it was the most beautiful song he had ever heard.


	5. Chapter five: Bullets

"So let me get this straight... you met a stranger who acted all weird and looked suspicious at the concert hall and told no one?"

Lovino nodded, eyes fixed on his own fingers that were fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Gilbert slammed his fist against the table.

"That must be it! The man's our perp!" he exclaimed, a near crazy gleam in his eyes. Lovino looked at him with eyes tired of crying.

"We don't have any proof of that, do we," he said, wishing he could talk and think about something else for a change. "It could have been anyone. I haven't even seen him after that night."

"No, I'm sure it's him!" Gilbert continued, jumping up from his chair. "My police instincts tell me so! But I'm going to catch him and make him pay for killing my buddy!" Gilbert's eyes were even redder than usual, and Lovino could still see faint streaks on his cheeks. Antonio's death had been a huge shock to the German as well.

Lovino sighed and wrapped his arms around him as if he was hugging himself. "Feliciano… Feliciano says we should still have the concert", he said suddenly with a weak voice. "To honour Antonio's memory."

Gilbert looked at Lovino and then nodded. "Yeah. He would've liked that," he replied quietly. There was a moment of silence as the both of them stared at the table, both most likely thinking of the same thing.

"We're going to the concert hall today to practise," Lovino finally continued to break the silence. Gilbert's head suddenly perked up.

"Is West going with you?" he asked. Lovino shook his head, remembering how the younger of the German police officer brothers was supposed to go to work in an hour.

"I'm going with you then!" Gilbert announced. "I'm not into the violin torture, but someone has to make sure the crazy bastard won't touch you two."

"D… do you think he'll come after us..?" Lovino whispered, not even sure who the word 'he' was referring to now. Whoever it was who had killed Romulus, Bella and Antonio, if there even were a single culprit. It was too much of a coincidence to be the work of separate culprits though, despite the police's general opinion which different from that of Gilbert's. According to them Romulus' death wasn't all that suspicious in the end, and Antonio's death had been a mere accident, but Gilbert refused to believe them. The German man shook his shoulders.

"Who knows, but I think I'll have a higher chance of catching him if I tag along."

Lovino bit his lip but said nothing. He really didn't want to think about it any further.

The last long note of the song faded slowly in the perfect acoustics of the concert hall, until it was replaced by enthusiastic clapping.

"Great job, Fratello!" Feliciano said with a smile. It was odd how the boy managed to keep up the happy face despite all that had happened, but perhaps the long practise had brought him the much needed rest from the thoughts of those horrible events. Lovino merely shrugged. The song he had just played was one he had mastered a long time ago, yet it sounded to him as if it was somehow… dimmer, less beautiful than his yet-to-be fully learnt Devil's Trill.

"Let's have a break, okay?" Feliciano continued. "I'll go get us something to drink from the vending machine outside! What do you want to drink, Fratello?"

"Ice coffee," Lovino said simply and sat down on one of the chairs on the first row in the auditorium. Feliciano nodded.

"Alright! Gilbert, what do you… huh? Where is he?" the younger boy looked around. Lovino looked around as well, but couldn't catch a glimpse of the silver-haired man.

"Perhaps he went out to get some fresh air? He seemed kind of antsy before," Lovino replied closing his eyes and laid his head against the headrest. He remembered Gilbert having walked around the public gallery his arms crossed not too long ago, seemingly tired of listening to classical music.

"That must be it," Feliciano replied before noticing his brother had fallen asleep on his comfortable chair. Quietly as not to wake him up, he ventured out to get the promised drinks.

As Lovino opened his eyes, a bottle of icy cold coffee was sitting on his lap.

"Good morning, Fratello!" Feliciano greeted happily, only to be replied to with an annoyed grunt.

"It can't be morning yet… how long did I sleep?"

Feliciano tilted his head. "You're right, Fratello, it's still afternoon. You slept for about fifteen minutes."

Lovino yawned and happened to notice a bottle of coke on the chair next to him.

"Is that for Gilbert? Hasn't he returned yet?"

"No, I have no idea where he is… I tried calling for him but he didn't answer", Feliciano explained, looking rather worried. Lovino bit his lip and stood up.

"We'd better go look for him. Perhaps… perhaps he just went to the toilet and didn't hear you," he said, trying to calm the rising fear in the both of them.

After a while of looking it became evident Gilbert was no longer anywhere inside the concert hall. They had checked every room, every corner, every closet, every toilet, but there was no sign of the albino man anywhere. As the Italian brothers were about to return to the auditorium, they passed the door leading to the backside of the building. Lovino knew the so called back yard was merely a plot of asphalt, an extremely inaesthetic and dirty looking place which was nevertheless rather popular among the smoker artists after Antonio had forbid them to smoke inside the dressing rooms. Deciding it was better not to leave any place unchecked, and remembering how Gilbert probably had wanted to get some fresh air, Lovino pushed the door open.

"Gilbert? Are you there?" he called, his cries echoed by Feliciano. Before the younger brother had the time to properly step outside, however, Lovino violently pushed him back inside, smashing the door shut after them. He was gasping for air, eyes filled with tears of terror.

"Call the police", he whispered with weak horror-struck voice, leaning against the door as if he was trying to stop someone from opening it.

[-]

Lovino clenched his violin, sitting alone in the corner of the cellar, legs and arms brought as close to his torso as possible. Feliciano was upstairs, probably crying with Ludwig now. Lovino was glad he didn't have to be the one to bring the bad news to Ludwig, and he knew he would never have the courage to tell Francis, although thoughts like that felt petty at the moment. He closed his eyes for a second, but then opened them wide and stared at the dark brown texture of his violin, tears falling through his cheeks yet again. No matter how much he tried to concentrate on the wooden pattern and the calm shade of the violin, he couldn't erase the image burnt into his mind. He had only seen a glimpse, but in that glimpse he had seen all he needed, no, he had seen too much. In his mind he could still see it… Gilbert's eyes, one of them shot through, were still open, and his mouth was slightly ajar as if he was about to say something. His neck was bent in an unnatural position, resting against his shoulder as he sat on the ground leaning against the wall, his legs bent one to left, the other to right, as if he had just lazily slid from a standing position into the ground without caring how to put his legs. His skin shone whiter than ever, decorated by the crimson blood splashed all over him; there wasn't much skin to be seen under it, however, as the whole man was filled with holes like Swiss cheese. His arms, chest, legs, even head – it was like there was more missing of him than what was left.

Lovino shuddered and shook his head, wishing the horrible image would go away. He didn't want to remember it, and he'd give anything to just forget about what had happened. The first notes of the Devil's Trill were quivering, but soon he found he could only concentrate on the song, and that left no time to remember the recent events.


	6. Chapter six: Tools

It was obvious enough Gilbert's death had truly affected Ludwig. Lovino tried to avoid his stare, but couldn't escape from the eyes gleaming with insane fervour in a manner similar but multiplied of that of Gilbert's when he was still alive and out to catch the culprit who had killed Antonio. Ludwig's current goal was the same, and his vigour lost none to his older brother's.

"Any other details? Think carefully! Even the smallest thing could be vital!" he said, leaning towards Lovino who was sitting on the other side of the table, eyes fixed on his. Lovino wrapped his arms even tighter around himself, his lower lip quivering slightly.

"I can't remember," he replied shaking his head. "I've told you everything I remember." Ludwig didn't seem pleased with the answer, and let out a vexed grunt. Lovino had just described him the stranger he had met at the concert hall and the events of last night in as much detail as he could, but it didn't seem to be enough for the German. He stood up and walked towards the door. "I'll go investigate. Take care of Feliciano when I'm gone."

Lovino nodded, although he thought it wasn't wise for Ludwig to continue his investigation at this time at night. However, it was of little use to try to stop him; the German had a very ram-like quality that if he decided to do something, there was nothing you could do to talk him out of it. All Lovino could do now was to hope he would take care of himself, whatever he was about to do, and make sure Feliciano was alright.

Feliciano hadn't seen the actual scene but he was nevertheless shaken about the events. Lovino tried to comfort him to his best ability, wondering half-mindedly if worrying about Feliciano was the only thing keeping him sane right now. At least that made him forget the horrible things he had seen for a moment… As Ludwig was nowhere to be seen by the time the brothers were going to bed, Feliciano called the German man to make sure he was alright. Both the Italians were relieved to hear Ludwig's voice, even though he just told them with a snappy tone that he wouldn't return to Vargas' that night, and that Francis was on his way to their house, just in case. As Ludwig had said, Francis arrived within fifteen minutes after the call, and they retired to bed, both Vargas brothers in Lovino's room and Francis in the guest room.

Morning came, and it seemed like Ludwig hadn't yet returned.

"He must be working hard to catch the murderer," Francis said as he laid plates with croissants in front of Feliciano and Lovino on the breakfast table.

"We should go make sure he remembers to eat and rest," Feliciano said with a worried look on his face, nibbling his croissant. "I… I'll save him half of my croissant!"

Francis chuckled and ruffled Feli's hair. "There's no need for that. I'll pack some food for Ludwig, and we'll go to his apartment as soon as we've finished eating."

The Italians agreed on the plan, and ate the rest of their breakfast quickly. Now that Lovino thought of it, he hadn't eaten a proper breakfast in days, not after Romulus had died. Actually, he hadn't eaten much anything after that. The croissants they were eating were delicious, and one could truly taste the love inserted in them during the baking. After all, it was obvious that Francis, like everyone else, was in love with Feliciano.

After breakfast they walked to Ludwig's apartment, but no matter how much they knocked, no one came to open the door. Disappointed, they returned to the street, starting to worry about the German man.

"Perhaps he's at the station! I'll call him," Feliciano said and quickly dialled Ludwig's number. After a moment of silence an eerily familiar tune started playing somewhere nearby. Das Deutchlandlied.

"He must be somewhere close by!" Feliciano said happily and began to trace where the music was coming from, Francis and Lovino following him. Once they reached the source of the music Francis covered the Italians' eyes with his hands, but it was too late. Lovino had already seen it, in all its horror. Ludwig, sitting against the wall like his brother had, but instead of bullet holes everywhere there was only a single wound on his body. On the left side of his chest there was a large chisel driven through his flesh, and on his hand he held a now cooled lump of something blood covered that Lovino recognized to be a human heart.

[-]

As Francis put it, spending time in a place immersed with memories of Ludwig wasn't a good idea right now, so after picking up some clothes (and, in Lovino's case, his violin) they ended up spending the night at Francis' place. Unable to calm down, and encouraged by Francis, Lovino played the Devil's Trill as Francis was holding Feliciano in his arms and trying to comfort him. Lovino noticed that yet another part of the song was easier to play now, and somehow the song seemed to calm all three of them, and they were able to fall asleep without being tormented by nightmares.


	7. Chapter seven: Frost

It took Lovino a moment to remember where he was as he opened his eyes. Ah, yes. The fuzzy memories from last night returned to him slowly as he smelt the sweet rosy scent all around him and felt the silky fabric of the sheets under him. Feliciano was still asleep, curled on his side next to Lovino, and from his expression Lovino could tell he was seeing a pleasant dream. Lovino wondered if he was dreaming of Ludwig was still alive. He hugged his pillow and hid his face in it. Thanks to Francis he had been able to forget about the recent events for a moment. No one else but him would have been able to do that, Lovino thought; but then again, Francis was only doing it for Feliciano. Quietly Lovino got up from the bed and stretched. It was already noon, and Lovino abandoned the thought of making breakfast as his thanks to Francis. The Frenchman had surely woken up hours ago and already eaten. Lovino saw his own reflection in the large mirror on the wall. His face was paler than usually, and there were black bags under his eyes. Lovino thought it could just as well been a ghost in the mirror instead of him, if he hadn't known better.

Lovino was woken from his thoughts by a loud bumping noise. He turned around to see Feliciano on the floor, holding his head and whimpering.

"Are you alright?" Lovino asked, walking to his brother to make sure he hadn't hurt himself. Feliciano shook his head, eyes full of tears.

"I-I hit my head," he whined, massaging the sore spot on his temple. "On t-the bedside table. It hurts…"

Lovino removed Feliciano's hand from his forehead and came to the conclusion that it didn't seem to be anything serious. The boy would probably get a bump on his head, but besides that there wasn't even a scratch on him.

"Let's get you a band aid to put on it," Lovino sighed, knowing there was no need for such measures but that Feliciano would forget about the pain in his forehead if he pretended to apply some kind of an aid on it. And right he was with that: as soon as he mentioned the band aid, the painful expression on Feliciano's face disappeared and he nodded. The brothers left the guestroom to search for the first-aid kit, but once they found it they noticed there was not a single band aid in it.

"Hey, Francis! You're out of band aids!" Lovino called out, but received no reply. "…Francis? Are you awake?"

The Italians knocked on Francis' bedroom's door and opened it, but there was no one in. The kitchen and the living room were empty as well, as they soon noticed.

"Pe…perhaps he went out?" Feliciano said, but couldn't hide the scared tone in his voice. "Perhaps he left us a note…"

Lovino nodded, feeling as scared, and they started searching for the note Francis might have left for them. There was none on the table, or the bedside table of the guestroom, and Lovino kneeled on the floor to make sure it hadn't fallen when Feliciano had knocked his head. There was no note in the living room or on the small table in the hall, as Feliciano confirmed. The kitchen floor and the counters were note-less as well. As Lovino was about to return to Feliciano, who was checking the living room again, he passed by the cold room and suddenly shuddered. Francis had a large cold room next to his kitchen, Lovino didn't know why but guessed it had something to do with the restaurant he owned, and usually Lovino paid no attention to it. Now, however, he found himself trembling in front of it, his hand slowly reaching for the door handle in a dream-like motion. As the door opened the first thing Lovino noticed was the unnatural coldness; the breath of air that greeted him as even colder than it was usually supposed to be. And the second thing… the golden curls coated with a thin layer of frost, making them and the snow white skin glitter under the artificial light upon them. The light blue fabric of a silky shirt was coloured with a blot of crimson, the colour repeated in the frozen tear streaks on the man's cheeks. The man's eyes were hidden under a black ribbon tied around his head. Next to the corpse there was a jar, quite similar to all those others on the shelves filled with jams or pickles. This one, however, was carefully preserving, in a vinegar liquid, a heart cleaned of blood and a pair of blue eyes.

Lovino couldn't even make a sound as he backed from the room, eyes wide with shock. Without thinking he shut the door behind him and ran to Francis' room, unable to stop himself before crashing against a small cabinet by the wall. The cabinet fell from the contact, spreading its contents to the floor. The floor around Lovino was now covered with letters, and with trembling fingers the Italian picked one up.

"_My dearest Lovino… I wish I could tell you how much I love you, but I know you love Ludwig. If only you would believe me when I told you you're the most important thing to me in the whole world! Perhaps I'll gather the courage to say it one day…"_

Lovino dropped the letter as if it had just been set on fire. Wherever he looked, he could only see those same words written on each letter. Love. Love. Love. Lovino fell to his knees and cried.


	8. Chapter eight: The Devil's Trill

The night after Francis' death passed in a hazy feeling of unreality, and Lovino had no idea what he had done after finding the letters, safe for crying, ending up playing the violin again to drug the pain away with music and finally retiring to bed clinging onto Feliciano, and Feliciano onto him with just as tight an embrace. Only the two of them were left now, only him and Feli, and they were both scared, wondering who could bear such terrible grudge against them, whether that person was going to continue his horrific deeds, and, indeed – whether it would be Lovino or Feliciano to go next. Lovino wished, in his mind dulled by pain, that it should be himself. He couldn't bear to lose the last person he had in this world, and he knew Feliciano didn't want to die, he had such a bright future ahead of him. Lovino had already given up on his.

Slowly the night turned into morning, and Lovino, in his yet drowsy state, realized that instead of Feliciano, the soft thing he was holding in his arms now was the boy's pillow. With a panicky expression he shot up from his bed and called for Feli, wishing desperately to hear his brother's childish voice from the kitchen, telling him he was only making breakfast. No reply came. Lovino's cries were echoed by the walls in the house empty of other souls except for Lovino's own. Lovino trembled, as if encountered by a bad case of the flu. Dreadful scenarios filled his mind until he noticed a small piece of paper left on Feliciano's side of the bed. He picked the note up and recognized his brother's handwriting, the message written on it saying that Feli had gone to the concert hall and Lovino shouldn't worry about him. Contrary to what Feli had written, Lovino felt even more worried and scared, and barely took the time to put on his shoes before rushing to the concert hall.

The lights in the building were dim, someone having lit candles here and there, changing the whole appearance of the aristocratic hall into something that sent shivers down Lovino's spine. The hall was quiet, safe for a silent murmur coming from somewhere deeper in the building. With legs trembling of fear Lovino followed the voice, not sure if he wanted to find its source, but it was his best lead at finding Feliciano. As he approached the main stage the voice grew more audible, and Lovino felt something sticky on the floor under his feet. He couldn't brave himself to look down, having good enough of an idea what it could be even without looking. As he finally set his feet on the dark stage, bright lights were suddenly turned on, blinding Lovino for a moment. As soon as his eyes got used to the brightness, however, he wished he was still blind.

Feliciano was sitting on the floor on his knees, a terrified look on his face, sobbing in a panicky manner. Both sides of his head were smirched with blood, almost hiding the fact that the boy's ears were missing. His arms were hanging uselessly from his shoulders, each finger pointing to an unnatural direction.

"Feliciano!" Lovino cried and ran to his brother, holding him in his arms as if he could somehow heal him with just a touch. The blood from the countless thin scratches all over Feliciano's body soon dirtied Lovino's clothes, but he didn't care.

"I'm sorry," Feliciano continued his whimpering, proving to be the source of the voice Lovino had been hearing ever since he entered the building. The glassy eyes told that Feliciano couldn't see him, and even the touch didn't seem to make him realize Lovino's presence. "I'm sorry, Fratello… I'm sorry… please forgive me…"

Lovino's heart stopped for a moment as he heard the words. "W-what are you talking about?" he said in a slightly hysterical voice. "D-don't speak… W-we'll get you to the hospital and you'll be a-all right…"

Lovino's words had no effect as Feliciano continued his pitiful chanting through his sobs, the large wound in his neck pumping up more and more blood by each word he uttered, until he finally let out a gurgling noise and his head fell to rest upon Lovino's shoulder. Lovino's eyes widened in shock, and he shivered violently, holding the slowly cooling corpse of his brother in his arms.

The trance was broken by slow clapping from behind Lovino. The Italian turned quickly around and saw the same man he had seen the day of the concert.

"What a moving scene, comrade. My compliments," the honey-sweet voice said, the same old smile on his face. Lovino stood up, pointing a shaky finger at the man.

"I-it was you," he gasped, voice the mixture of fear and anger. "Y-you killed them! You killed everyone I love!"

The stranger in his black suit and a scarf chuckled. "Me? No, you're giving me too much credit. I didn't touch any of them. I don't even have the motive to kill them."

Lovino bit his lip, obviously not believing what the man said. "Then who…"

"Did you enjoy playing my trill?"

Lovino froze, his eyes largening. "N-no… you can't mean…"

The stranger laughed and pointed at somewhere behind Feliciano, who was now laying at the ground looking as if he was merely asleep, instead of having just been put to eternal slumber in the most brutal manner. "I never touched them, as I said. That would have been no fun. It's far more interesting to see a mortal let out his aggression."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lovino turned his head and saw his old violin laying on the ground where the stranger was pointing at. The bow was coloured dark red with drying blood.

"N-no," Lovino whispered, shaking his head. "Why me? Why me?"

"You had all I needed," the stranger said in a laughing tone. "The talent. The pain. The grudge, the anger, the hatred." the man said the words in a tasting manner, as if each of them was a piece of delicious candy he hungered to devour.

"T-that's not true!" Lovino cried out, still shaking like a leaf in the wind. "I didn't hate them! I loved them!"

"Then, why did you do it?" the stranger said, squinting his eyes into thin slits as he smiled in his evil way. Lovino backed a couple of steps until he hit the wall behind him, and could barely stay standing even with its help. "No… i-it can't be possible…"

The stranger sat himself comfortably on a chair and crossed his legs.

"By the way, Lovino", he said, clearly enjoying the show. "You haven't quite perfected the trill yet. You're still missing a note."

Lovino shot a scared look at the stranger, then at his violin, and slowly made his way to the instrument. With practised calmness he picked it up, and the hall was once again filled with music – the most beautiful song that had ever been played, and that will ever be played there – the Devil's Trill being performed with not the slightest flaw or waver. And as the song ended, the violin fell to the floor with an audible clank followed by a louder thump, and slow clapping echoed in the empty hall.

FINIRE

[-]

[[I want to thank everyone who took the time to read the Devil's Trill! This was my first time writing horror, and I don't have much experience of the genre in general, but I hope you found it worth your time! Special thanks to everyone who commented, you've made me a really happy ficcer! *heart* ]]


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